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A new Nielsen survey shows 27 percent of interviewed gamers would be interested in buying Nintendo's next console within 6 months of its release.

Similar proportions of those interviewed expressed interest in purchasing new consoles from Microsoft (25 percent) or Sony (24 percent) should they be released in the next two years.

The survey, conducted in the weeks before the upcoming E3 show, seems to suggest some potential interest in new hardware at this point in what many analysts are calling an extended hardware cycle.

Nielsen found only 18 percent of gamers were interested in purchasing a follow-up to the recently released Nintendo 3DS, and 13 percent were interested in Sony's code-named Next Generation Portable.

Interest in Nintendo's next console was relatively lower among gamers that own both a Wii and another major console, Nielsen pointed out. Among those that own a Wii and an Xbox 360, 46 percent expressed interest in buying the next Microsoft system, compared to only 37 percent who want Nintendo's next console.

For those who own a Wii and PS3, 44 percent are interested in a new Sony system compared to 40 percent want the Wii successor.

Nielsen's survey also found 47 percent of gamers expecting Nintendo's new console to launch in the next two years, as Nintendo has promised. A full 40 percent expect a new Microsoft console in that time frame, and 37 percent expect a new home system from Sony, despite no announced plans from either company.

A Nielsen analysis of pre-E3 chatter also shows high interest in information on Nintendo's next system, with 22 percent of over 131,000 tracked online messages about the show centering on the system. For context, only 4 percent of messages measured last year involved Microsoft's Kinect.

This game is all about the racism. I hate to think about all the backlash that will be involved but the truth must be told. The truth about a man who kills people by dropping them from his crane. Political correctness be damned. Damned to the max.

I like how it's a chart of whether or not people would buy something they have no information about. I mean, never mind that everything on the list basically suffers at the same general rate. There can't possibly be other factors involved.

I know that is the cool and edgy thing to do, but I think there are a lot of genuine reasons to be excited for E3 this year. And if the rumors surrounding Cafe are true, it sounds like its a lot more then simply an HD Wii.

I know that is the cool and edgy thing to do, but I think there are a lot of genuine reasons to be excited for E3 this year. And if the rumors surrounding Cafe are true, it sounds like its a lot more then simply an HD Wii.

What are the rumors? I've only really read about the potential controller screen and GTAV. Any info on what the online functionality is going to be like?

Fixed. Geez, I can't even troll people daily about that game without setting people off.

Posting something about Angry Birds on a daily basis, preceeded by something like "OH SHIT EVERYBODY EVACUATE THREAD BECAUSE I'M ABOUT TO START A SHITSTORM" isn't a joke.

Jokes are funny, or meant to be. You're just trying to marginalize anyone that disagrees about it in some way revolutionizing the gaming industry.

Um, I didn't say any of that. I posted news about the Tetris Compant because it had sales figures for it, and joked about THEIR bringing up Angry Birds because, well, apparently the topic IS controversial because of the weekend-long argument about it. I'm not marginalizing anyone.

At any rate, I apologize about the attempt at humor, but I promise I only post stuff about that game if it's news. So, we cool?

Those birds probably seem only mildly distempered compared to the seething rage that they incite in some people.

I actually think its pretty funny that cloudeagle will post something like "sorry to bring up this game" along with news that mentions it and the immediate reaction is people getting all riled up at the mere notion that mentioning it would piss them off. Its the inevitable Angry Birds cycle and watching it unfold that is the joke.

What are the rumors? I've only really read about the potential controller screen and GTAV. Any info on what the online functionality is going to be like?

Oh, I only meant to say that the rumors itself suggest it being more then simply an HD Wii. 1UP seems to think that some of the rumors have been confirmed, mainly the 6 inch screen and the ability to play games via the controller itself separate from playing on the big screen.

I know that is the cool and edgy thing to do, but I think there are a lot of genuine reasons to be excited for E3 this year. And if the rumors surrounding Cafe are true, it sounds like its a lot more then simply an HD Wii.

Yeah, I've been pretty impressed by how little has been leaked thus far. The best E3 conferences are full of surprises.

.. really? I feel like there's been a lot more information coming out ahead of time than usual. I don't know if it's because the publishers want to get their trailers out ahead of the PSV/Cafe reveals so they don't get lost in the shuffle, but I don't remember this many reveals this far ahead of time the last few years.

That could also just be me not remembering previous years as well, though.

Lots of trailers for existing games, a few announcements for downloadable games, and Heroes of Ruin. There weren't any announcements for major games were there? Nintendo already said at an investor meeting that they were revealing a new console.

Yeah, I've been pretty impressed by how little has been leaked thus far. The best E3 conferences are full of surprises.

.. really? I feel like there's been a lot more information coming out ahead of time than usual. I don't know if it's because the publishers want to get their trailers out ahead of the PSV/Cafe reveals so they don't get lost in the shuffle, but I don't remember this many reveals this far ahead of time the last few years.

That could also just be me not remembering previous years as well, though.

PSV has blown out in advance, but we've got pretty much no idea of any new games to be revealed at either of the big three conferences.

It leaked that Nintendo will announce a new console (at least I thought it leaked)

I'd say that's pretty major

It didn't leak, they announced it ahead of time. Like they announced the Wii (in a magazine no less) and Microsoft had a big thing on Spike TV to announce the Xbox 360 (plus an proto-ARG which lead people to a video that announced it.)

Is it sad that I hope beyond hope that they'll announce the Last Guardian as coming out this year instead of the next and the only reason they said it won't come out till 2012 is that Team ICO likes to play with our emotions?

Café did leak actually. The initial stuff was before Nintendo announced that they'd be unveiling it at E3, and in fact said that Nintendo would announce it later the same month (April).

I'm still trying to wrap my head around that chart from the first page. The "intent to buy stuff" is nearly worthless, speculation on unannounced/unreleased products with unclear competition is a difficult proposition at best and often completely futile; two years ago Android was an also-ran next to iOS now it's the market leader. But if you look at the "expect to be released" it can serve as a decent surrogate for brand awareness and how consumers view current products.

The Apple stuff is pretty interesting: Apple has announced new iPods and iPhones on a near-annual basis since they were launched, and the iPad 2 was launched a year after the first, maintaining that timing, yet under 40% of people surveyed expected a successor within the next two years. Even though they haven't been announced (Apple loves secrecy), past history alone combined with Apple's tremendous brand awareness and ability to get the public to know about those should get that number much higher. I can easily predict with 100% certainty that short of a meteor landing on Cupertino that Apple will release not one but TWO successors to all three of those products over the next 24 months.

From Sony's side I'd be worried that only 32% of people believe that Sony will launch a successor to the PSP within the next 2 years, despite the successor being announced months ago for release in at least some territories this year. More people believe that we'll see a PS4 in the next 2 years than the NGP. That says Sony hasn't gotten the word out enough that the NGP exists (even without Apple's brand and product awareness and the more limited scope of the handheld market the number expecting it to exist should be at LEAST 50%, if not much higher). Also interesting is that the same number (about 1 in 3) believe that Nintendo will release a successor to the 3DS within the next 2 years. I think Nintendo hasn't adequately communicated to the public that the 3DS isn't the latest in the DS->DS Lite->DSi->DSi XL cycle but rather a true successor system, which would also contribute strongly to the [relatively] lackluster early sales. I'd also take the nearly 50% expectance rate for a Wii successor (the highest of any product surveyed) to be a perfect indicator to why we're seeing Café: Nintendo knows that the public feels that the Wii's time has passed and it's time to move on.

Anyway I'd be reluctant to try and glean too much information out of that chart, but there's still some interesting factoids that can be found if you approach it from the right mindset.

Yeah, I've been pretty impressed by how little has been leaked thus far. The best E3 conferences are full of surprises.

.. really? I feel like there's been a lot more information coming out ahead of time than usual. I don't know if it's because the publishers want to get their trailers out ahead of the PSV/Cafe reveals so they don't get lost in the shuffle, but I don't remember this many reveals this far ahead of time the last few years.

That could also just be me not remembering previous years as well, though.

PSV has blown out in advance, but we've got pretty much no idea of any new games to be revealed at either of the big three conferences.

PSV hasn't been blown out that much though. We know about the system and a handful of games but that's really it. There's still plenty they can announce for it. Price, launch date and third party games (*coughLumines*) being the big ones.

As for the Cafe being leaked beforehand (as Chris said, it was leaked before Nintendo even mentioned it), how is that much different to the situation with the 3DS last year? We knew it was coming and had a few details about it but it was still pretty cool when they actually announced it.

Is it sad that I hope beyond hope that they'll announce the Last Guardian as coming out this year instead of the next and the only reason they said it won't come out till 2012 is that Team ICO likes to play with our emotions?

Yes it is sad, because releasing this year would put it up against games like MW3, Uncharted 3, AC: Revelations, Gears 3, Battlefield 3 and a lot of other high profile games (let alone the Vita launch), so it'd be completely overshadowed. Early next year (say around February like Heavy Rain) would be a far better time for it to come out. So hope for a release this year if you want Last Guardian to bomb.

On the bright side, the Team ICO Collection should be coming out around September/October (September's been confirmed for its Japanese release so I'd expect the US/PAL versions to come out around the same time).